Republic Bank Limited, Trinidad & Tobago’s largest indigenous bank, has finalized its acquisition of RBC Royal Bank (Suriname) NV. The closing of the transaction took place in Trinidad on Friday 31 July. Republic Bank acquired RBC Royal Bank through the purchase of Royal Overseas Holdings (St. Lucia) Ltd at an estimated cost of USD 45.3 million. On behalf of VANEPS, a team led by partners Randolph van Eps and Molly Steward assisted Republic Bank in the acquisition.
The newly renamed Republic Bank (Suriname) NV opened the doors of its five branches in Paramaribo and one in Nickerie on Monday 3 August. David Dulal-Whiteway, Managing Director of Republic Bank, stated: “We’re very excited about the opportunity to be part of the future development of Suriname. At our core is a culture of providing excellent, innovative customer service. We believe in organic growth and have a well-established institutional track-record of successfully entering new territories, ensuring compliance and integrity, while investing in technology and the development of the country’s human resource capabilities.”
The team of VANEPS performed an extensive due diligence, including an onsite review and a data room review, mainly performed by associates Dirk Ormel, Shalini Sadal and Gregory Maldonado under supervision of Randolph van Eps. Molly Steward led a second team assisting in the acquisition, performing a legal review of bank forms, reviewing and drafting contracts and providing general legal advice. The main team members in this regard were senior associate Steffen Hagen and associates Len Huard and Raoul Profijt.
